As the water washes over the contents of the medical sieve, the remaining material becomes gruesomely unambiguous: a delicate foot, a flawlessly formed hand, and, finally, the top half of a tiny head, its left eyeball popping accusingly at the camera. The pro-choice movement might view exposing the outcome of a second-trimester abortion as cheap shock value, while the anti-choice lobby traffics in this sort of graphic imagery to punctuate its belief that life begins at conception. A documentary 16 years in the making, British director Tony Kaye's "Lake of Fire" dares to press this country's hottest button, taking the polarizing debate over what is euphemistically termed a woman's right to choose and somehow crafting a passionate film that is nonetheless startling in its objectivity.

But that's not to say that Kaye - no stranger to controversy, thanks to 1997's Oscar-nominated "American History X" - is letting either side off the hook. He makes it clear that both factions have premeditated blood on their hands, whether it's the tens of millions of fetuses aborted since 1973's watershed ruling in Roe v. Wade, or the cold-blooded executions of the doctors providing this very legal medical procedure to women who request such a service. Kaye allows the accused murderers to illustrate their own hypocrisy, though the largely fundamentalist vigilantes seem to find little paradox between their so-called pro-life stance and their eagerness to end another's in the name of God.

Kaye captured his footage in faded black and white (no reds, mercifully, though I still watched the more disturbing images through my fingers), meaning "Lake of Fire" literally works in shades of grey, with extreme close-ups of interviewees and oddly framed shots not normally seen in documentaries. Nearly everyone has a position on the abortion issue, and Kaye speaks to the august likes of law professor Alan Dershowitz and linguistics professor Noam Chomsky, as well as notorious bigots such as Operation Rescue's Randall Terry ("Intolerance is a beautiful thing"? Who says that?) along with Paul Hill, whose mid-‘90s assassination of an abortion provider enabled him to become a martyr for his cause via lethal injection. And of course there's terrifying politico Pat Buchanan, orating as though he has any clue about what goes into the decision whether to terminate a pregnancy.

So while asking a bunch of dudes - some of whom don't even appear to like women or children (or gays... or blacks...) - to weigh in on the abortion issue is slightly baffling, Kaye also hears from a number of informed women, including Norma McCorvey, the former Jane Roe, now a right-to-life advocate after calling upon religion to help her cope with her enormous burden. But the truth at the center of this "Lake of Fire" - the title refers to that spot in hell where all of us sinners can expect to spend eternity - is embodied by a brave soul named Stacy, who lets Kaye's cameras follow her through an abortion procedure and breaks down following her medical care, both physically and emotionally spent. Regrets? Not really. Stacy had a choice, one that is fortunately still guaranteed under United States law, and she made it.

The premise of "Dan in Real Life" might make you want to heave all over your Junior Mints: widowed father (Steve Carell) with three cookie-cutter daughters falls for brother's girlfriend (Juliette Binoche!?) during autumn weekend with huge family (including Dianne Wiest, John Mahoney, and - ugh - Dane Cook) in postcard-exquisite Rhode Island. The sad dad's an advice columnist, though everyone has a noisy opinion, and it's obvious who is meant to be with whom. Who hasn't seen this before, you're thinking? Oh, quit being so stone-hearted.

"Dan in Real Life" turns out to be less cloying than it sounds... and even Dane Cook is tolerable! Director Peter Hedges clearly has experience with making the sweet a little sour, having written "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" and adapted Nick Hornby's "About A Boy" to an Oscar nomination. Of course there are missteps, like the overly cutesy family activities and the Mystical Minority who dispenses sage advice - a ditto diagramming this massive clan also might have been helpful - but Hedges works his increasingly reliable alchemy here, allowing the messy and inconvenient attraction between the rumpled Carell and the radiant Binoche (perfect in a really unfamiliar role) to spark as they totally pretend they don't know how the movie ends. 

Lake of Fire

(NR), directed by Tony Kaye

Saturday-Monday at the Dryden Theatre

Dan in Real Life

(PG-13), directed by Peter Hedges

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